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What Is Breast Cancer And How Many Women and Men Will Get It?
Breast cancer is the uncontrolled growth of mutated cells in the breast area. Cancer is the disease that grows in the breast when these uncontrolled, mutated or genetically changed genes grow in place of healthy genes. Genes are part of the genetic composition of every cell. They carry coding information that tells the cells what to do and how to carry out their activities. In normal cell growth, new cells grow to replace the ones that have died. However, in cancer, something goes wrong. The gene coding for growth is no longer regulated and mutated cells multiply and divide at an accelerated rate. The form a cluster of cells in the breast that form a malignant tumor.
There are two forms of tumors
Benign tumors
These tumors are non threatening tumors. The cells in a benign tumor are almost normal and they grow rather slowly. The cluster of cells, in the tumor, stay in the one place. They do not cross over to other tissues in the rest of the body.
Malignant tumors
Now these tumors are cancerous. If malignant tumors are not treated and destroyed, they will continue to grow then enter the lymphatic system and spread through the body to regroup and cluster in some other part of the body tissue or organs.
The malignant cells in breast cancer usually begin in the lobules, which are the milk producing glands, also called milk ducts, which are the passageways responsible for draining and getting milk to the nipples. Though not as common, cancer cells, can originate in the fatty or fibrous tissues in the breast called the stromal tissues.
Over time if the tumor has not been excised (removed) the cancer cells will grow and look for new tissue to settle in. They will evade healthy cells and when they make their way to the lymph nodes they can travel throughout the body though the lymphatic system.
Breast cancer is caused by a genetic abnormality, which can be thought of as a mistake in genetic coding. However, only a small portion of women (5